SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nearly two decades after they made the nation gawk by forming its first unionized strip club, the dancers at San Francisco's Lusty Lady are hanging up their thongs.

The employee-owned, co-op club will close in two weeks because it can no longer afford its rent.

General manager Scott Farrell tells the San Francisco Chronicle that while the workers own the club, they don't own the North Beach building where rent was $5,500 a month in 2001 but now runs more than $16,000. That's far more than the dancers and their wads of ones can manage.

Eviction proceedings began against the club earlier this year when it fell behind on rent. The workers have agreed to vacate by Sept. 2, and the owner says he'll waive the back rent.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The folks at Pittsburgh's Phipps Conservatory are making a stink over their newest exhibit. Then again, the exhibit itself is contributing to the stench.

A rare corpse flower is blooming and the conservatory was staying open until 2 a.m. Thursday to give visitors a chance to see — and smell — the unusual plant.

The plant blooms only every six to 10 years and, even then, it last only one to two days. While in bloom, the plant gives off a pungent odor that some say smells like trash and others say mimics rotting flesh — hence the plant's name.

The conservatory has named the plant Romero after Pittsburgh filmmaker George Romero, the man behind the 1968 cult zombie classic "Night of the Living Dead," which was being screened twice Wednesday night at Phipps.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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Utah thieves vacuum coins from machine

By Paul Foy, Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A pair of enterprising thieves took a car wash to the cleaners: They used a powerful shop vacuum to suck quarters out of a coin-operated machine, police said Wednesday.

The duo drew the suspicion of a passing police officer and failed to make a clean getaway.

"They had a good plan. They were enterprising. If they were successful they could have returned night after night," said Sgt. Gary Young in the Salt Lake City suburb of Cottonwood Heights. "More often thieves just use a crowbar. They get an A for effort but an F for execution."

More charges are pending. What gave the men away was a crude attempt at altering their vehicle's license plates. They used a piece of black electrical tape to change a "D'' to a "B," Young said.

The bandits were at work for about 12 minutes, sucking coins out of the coin dispensary of a stand-alone vacuum cleaner at the car wash, Young said.

They used their own shop vacuum to do the work, he said. It was powered by an inverter rigged inside their Jeep SUV to produce household current.

Police haven't counted their stash of quarters yet. Young said the coin-operated machine probably held no more than $30.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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New Jersey farmer gets political with corn maze

CHESTER, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey farmer has cut the faces of Republican Gov. Chris Christie and his Democratic challenger into a corn maze to highlight the state's gubernatorial election.

The corn was planted in June at the Stony Hill Farm in Chester.

Owner Dale Davis tells Newark's The Star-Ledger newspaper he chose the maze to get people interested. He says everybody recognizes Christie but he doesn't know whether a lot of people would recognize gubernatorial rival Sen. Barbara Buono (BWOH'-noh).

Christie is far ahead of Buono in public polls and leads among nearly every demographic group. He's seen as a viable contender for the 2016 Republican nomination for president.

The Morris County maze will open to the paying public Aug. 31. The election is Nov. 5.

Town Manager Tom Marsh says the odor that followed the fire evoked "a damp kind of burning leaves or brush fire."

The Valley News reports 120 cubic yards of goat manure spontaneously combusted at the 800-goat Oak Knoll Dairy early Wednesday morning, erupting into small flames and spreading an odor that both perplexed and amused people.

Farm owner George Redick says the manure would typically have been spread around the farm earlier in the year, but the rainy season and other factors kept that from happening.

He says he used to think spontaneous combustion was a myth, but now he's a believer.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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Hedgehogs named for infant prince move to castle

MOSCOW (AP) — Three rare albino hedgehog babies, born on the same day as Britain's new prince, have moved into a miniature castle at a Moscow petting zoo.

George, Alexander and Louis are named after the Prince of Cambridge, who has those three names.

On Thursday, when the hedgehogs turned one month old, they were shown into their new home at the All-Russia Exhibition Center.

It's a wooden castle with carefully carved windows, dark velvet curtains and a plush bed. A red carpet was rolled out to welcome the hedgehog family into the new home.

Zoo spokeswoman Yevgeniya Polonskaya manager said she hopes the Prince of Cambridge himself would one day visit the hedgehogs, and said they "have a couple of invitations set aside for him".

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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